The Lignacite Lecture 2018
October 2018
At Sadlers Well’s on the 16th October Niall will be giivng a lecture alongside Kim WIlkie titled Cultivated Land. ‘The mythical state of man living in nature never existed. We have always significantly altered and managed our landscapes for practical and symbolic reasons. We will explore the relationship between man and cultivated land, how this shaped our world and gave rise to the possibility of architecture. We will explore the future of our relationship with nature in these islands’. Tickets can be reserved through the Lignacite website here.
Athletes Occupy Olympic Housing
August 2012
In the run up to the London Olympics, the Athletes’ Village housing block N15, is now occupied with athletes’ preparing for the games. Niall McLaughlin Architects have designed the external skin of the housing block on a ‘chassis’ designed by Glen Howells. The facade samples fragments of the Elgin Marbles, scanned from the British Museum and converted into 3D pre-cast panels depicting galloping horses from the Parthenon Frieze.
Niall McLaughlin commented on the practice’s approach to the unusual commission in Building Design. ‘I was very interested in the principle of the facade being delaminated from the building’s core form. Usually it’s something one tries to swim against to retain a sense of ‘authenticity’, but here we decided to embrace it….I like the idea of setting Ruskin’s conception of the craftsman against the absolute Taylorism of the construction process. Through digital reproduction, these deracinated stones are now doubly lost.’ (Building Design 27.01.2012)